Retirement Planning for Railroaders

Who We Serve?

Highball Advisors Helps You Plan Your Railroad Retirement

You can find lots of information about financial planning. But railroaders really do have unique financial planning considerations that generic financial planning firms doesn’t address.

And you can find lots of information online about your railroad retirement benefits. But it usually is geared towards educating a group – which makes it difficult to sort out how to make the best choices for your situation.

It is rare to find a financial professional who really knows the ins and outs of railroad retirement. Rarer still to find one who actually does full financial planning and investment management.

But Highball Advisors is unique. We assist railroad professionals who lived frugal upper-middle income lives, allowing them to accumulate enough wealth to retire. We help you plan for and transition into retirement. We are a comprehensive fee-only financial planning and investment management office. We partner with railroaders from all over the country. We'll take the time to get to know your goals and help you navigate your financial options to build a retirement strategy that works for you. We respect the hard work and sacrifices that you have made throughout your career. Now let us help you maximize your hard earned Railroad Retirement. Take the next step to staying on track by taking advantage of the free 15- minute Introductory meeting.

Boarding for Railroad Retirement

This process will give you (and us) a framework for making an educated and informed decision about working together.

For people who are potentially a good fit for our firm, there is no cost or obligation for this process as we want you to know exactly how we can help you before you pay us a single dollar in fees or trust us with a penny of your nest egg.

Step 1 - Initial Zoom Meeting

A 15-minute phone/video call will give us both a chance to make sure your situation matches our expertise. After all, you wouldn’t see a Cardiologist if you needed foot surgery.

If we aren’t the right financial planning firm to help you, we will happily point you to the right expert for your unique needs.

Step 2 – First Virtual Meeting

Like a doctor, it’s important to diagnose before we prescribe.

The goal of this meeting is to get perfectly clear on your goals, concerns and unique financial situation.

Before this meeting, we will request a few important documents. This data will drive our analysis and result in answers to the four critical questions.

Step 3 - Our Analysis

We will apply decades of experience, thousands of hours of training and mentoring by the industry’s top experts to answer four critical questions for you: 1. Can you afford to retire? 2. Are you maximizing your Railroad Retirement benefits? 3. Can your portfolio be improved? 4. Can you eliminate, or at least reduce threats to your retirement?

Step 4 - Second Virtual Meeting

During this meeting we will explain, in plain English, exactly what you need to do to achieve your financial goals, including the answers to the four questions we asked during our analysis.

At the end of this meeting we will ask if you would like to begin working with our firm or if you would like to sleep on it.

Step 5 - Sleep On It

We are looking for long-term client relationships, not a quick transaction. It’s important that you take as much time as needed to make a decision.

To help you make a smart decision, answer these questions:

Do I like/trust/respect the team at Highball Advisors?

Do the benefits outweigh the cost?

Do I understand and agree with their investment philosophy?

Do their recommendations make sense to me?

Step 6 - All Aboard!!!

We are truly honored to be working with you. Before we depart the station, we will regroup to answer any outstanding questions and set expectations for the New Client Onboarding Process

*While we would love to work with you, if you decide that it’s not a good fit we will wish you all the best and every success. In other words, there is never a hard-sell or pressure to say yes.

People who want to delegate all retirement planning and investment management to an expert so they can spend time on things that matter most to them.

Two Simple Solutions

Highball Advisors offers two tracks to help railroaders achieve their goals. The "Highball Limited" is designed for railroaders in their wealth accumulating years of their career. The "Highball Special" solution is for railroaders nearing or are in retirement from the railroad. Both solutions are provided by a committed Railroad Retirement specialist.

Highball Limited

Goal Based Planning and Investment Management

If you are in your early in your wealth accumulating career years, then Highball Limited is a good fit for you. With it's low asset minimum, Highball Advisors will build you a railroad strategic retirement portfolio that takes advantage of the investment opportunities afforded you by your Railroad Retirement Tier 2 benefits. We will position your investments and analyze your 401k to maximize your retirement return potential. Also, included in this service is Goals based financial planning where we will plan for things that are important to you, i.e. college, retirement, etc...

Annual Fee

Assets Under Management are funds held at TD Ameritrade and managed by Highball Advisors. Not 401ks or other non-TD Ameritrade accounts.

Minimum Investment is $50,000

Highball Special

Comprehensive Financial Planning and Investment Management

The Highball Special is for railroaders who are growing their net worth and have increasing complexity as they advance in their careers. In order to assist you, we will partner collaboratively to develop your comprehensive financial plan. We start by creating an initial plan that showcases where you are now financially, and also your goals and vision for your life. We then work together systematically to implement the action steps and get you closer to your goals. As changes happen in your life, we adapt our strategy so it still makes sense for you. We are committed to seeing you achieve everything you have worked so hard for.

Annual Fee

Assets Under Management are funds held at TD Ameritrade and managed by Highball Advisors. Not 401ks or other non-TD Ameritrade accounts.

Minimum Investment is $250,000

About

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that counts. It's the life in your years." ...Abraham Lincoln

John McNamara, CRPC®

Prior to starting Highball Advisors, I owned a commodity trading and brokerage company in New York, Chicago, and Dublin. Fear, greed, and pride were some of the daily working conditions in the financial markets. I enjoyed my twenty plus years in the trading “pits” and came away with some great life lessons. Regrettably, computers and automation would descend upon the financial industry and with that the trading “pits” would vanish. Progress eventually catches up with most industries. You either adapt or go away. I adapted by starting my own internet trading exchange in Dublin, Ireland called Intrade. Government regulation would eventually shutter the business after ten years.

Leveraging my years of experience in the financial markets and business, I wound up working for a large national broker-dealer in Greenville,SC. However, it didn’t take me long to realize that individuals need a partner to offer impartial financial advice and not a salesman. There is no doubt people need help. Study after study has demonstrated that. But people don’t want to be “sold” unnecessary investments. So I opened up my fee-only advisory firm, Highball Advisors, to provide unbiased guidance to railroad professionals. It was important to me that I only received compensation from my clients and not paid commissions by investment houses and insurance companies hence fee-only.

I currently reside in Greenville, SC with my wife Becky, our dog Phoebe, and two very cranky cats. Becky and I raised four daughters who have left the nest. Three of them live in New York City and the remaining is studying at Clemson University. My interests that I enjoy – golf, hiking, college football, and most of all traveling to see my girls in New York. Becky and I lead the Feed the Hungry Ministry at St. Mary’s Magdalene Church, which serves meals to the homeless in Greenville area. We both find it rewarding and helps us put things in perspective.

To sum it all up, I have been extremely blessed throughout my life. From family to career, I don’t have anything to complain about. Not that anyone is listening. The most satisfaction I receive however is from service to others. While Highball Advisors is a business, it is partnering together and achieving goals that is so rewarding to the bottom line.

I am a registered investment advisor (RIA) and hold a Series 7 and 66 license. I am also a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC®).

The Highball Helper Blog is here to assist railroaders get over steep grades.

Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions

To be honest maybe you shouldn’t. You should interview several planners before you choose one to understand and agree with their philosophy, process, and personality. I have built my firm to address the needs, concerns, opportunities, and constraints inherent in the railroad industry. I have thought long and hard about my philosophies of planning and investing, and have made it a point of emphasis to have a complete understanding of the Railroad Retirement System. And, when I don’t have the answer to your question, I will tell you and find you the answer.

Highball Advisors is a fee-only firm, meaning I get paid only by you, the client, not by selling any products or making any referrals to other providers. I am also a fiduciary, so I put your interests first. This means that if I recommend an insurance policy or a mutual fund to you or suggest you take some action, I’ve done so because I think it serves your needs the best, not because I am making money off of it.

Absolutely! I built Highball Advisors specifically with the intention of being virtually-based. I know you have a crazy schedule, so we make it easier by meeting flexibly anywhere you have internet connection. However, if you make it to Greenville, we sure would love to share some BBQ with you.

Absolutely. If you work in the railroad industry, you’re most likely organized, sharp, and detail-oriented.The more relevant question is: do you want to do it yourself? Do you possess the knowledge, time, discipline and follow-through to craft a holistic picture and keep yourself accountable to that plan? Emotionally speaking, there is tremendous merit to having a disinterested third party to help you look more rationally at your situation and hold you accountable to your goals and decisions.

Identifying Goals. This is the main reason for financial planning. Whether your goal is to get your child through college debt-free, retire early or save for an annual family vacation, knowing where you are now is the necessary first step to reaching these goals.

Risk Management. This term is often used simply as a synonym for insurance, but it is so much more. It also includes ample cash reserves, adequate savings rate, estate planning documents and an appropriate investment portfolio.

Railroad Retirement Strategies. When is the right time to retire? How do I maximize my hard earned retirement benefits? How do Tier 1 and Tier 2 benefits affect my overall retirement? When can I comfortably retire? We will work through these questions and more to make sure that no stone is unturned in regards to retirement maximization.

College Preparation. No matter how old your child is, there’s something we can do to prepare for the cost of his or her education. I can help you figure out your best strategy and review your financial picture as it relates to eligibility for financial aid.

Employee Benefits Optimization. October and November of every year is usually a stressful time: open enrollment, 401(k) contributions, life insurance, employee stock purchase plans, legal services...the list is long. We review your benefits and determine whether you’re taking full advantage of the benefits available to you.

Healthcare and Long Term Care. We will help you navigate the intricacies of health care planning, especially in retirement. Medicare elections, Medicare supplemental plans, Long Term Care Insurance plans, and other health related issues will eventually arise and we will help you prepare.

Estate Planning. For most people, estate planning is a way of protecting your children in case anything happens to you. I can help identify needs in your existing estate plan and coordinate with your attorney to ensure that your estate plan works well with your overall financial plan.

Investment Analysis. Do you have investments spread all over the place and little idea how they all work together? I can explain the details and provide a high-level view of your entire portfolio as it exists today while recommending how to tailor it to your goals.

Cash Flow Management. We review your income and expenses to determine how much you are saving, how much you should be saving and where these savings come from. I can help you set up a system that is automatic and makes it easy to stick to your plan. If you have debt, we can also advise you on how best to pay these debts.

Tax Planning Strategies. I want you to understand your taxes and how they interact with the rest of your finances. I also look for ways to minimize current and future income taxes as a part of your overall financial plan. Knowledge of your tax situation will help guide strategy for investing income. I coordinate with your tax professional to make sure your tax decisions work well with the rest of your financial plan.

Of course. Highball Advisors was established to help railroad workers who were underserved by the financial services industry. However, this doesn’t mean we won’t work with non-railroad clients. People share similar challenges and we’re always here to lend a hand.

No. The introductory meeting is meant for us to get acquainted and see if we are a good fit together. There are no expectations of signing any contracts in this meeting. In fact, I do not allow anyone to sign a contract and become a client until we have both had time to think about it. This is a long term relationship for the both of us that shouldn’t be rushed into.

Send Us a Message and See If You Are On Track!

Not everyone is right for our firm. We are very selective of the people we choose to bring on as clients, because we have a long-term planning relationship with them.

If you just want to open an IRA and manage it yourself, Highball Advisors is not for you. There are plenty of bank representatives who can help open an account.

If you only want to buy an insurance policy, Highball Advisors is not for you. There are plenty of insurance salesmen who would be happy to sell you a policy.

But if you’re looking for a trusted advisor who understands both your Railroad Retirement benefits, and the finer points of advanced financial planning, then you should talk with Highball Advisors.

EMAIL:

PHONE:

864.438.0303

LOCATION:

Greenville,South Carolina

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Information presented on this site is for informational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any product or security. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed here. The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy. When you link to any of the web sites provided here, you are leaving this web site. We make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these web sites.